I do not
suppose that there is a perfect way of sacking someone.
It is never nice and never easy – either for the manager doing the
deed or indeed the victim.

Neither, I suppose, is there is a perfect way of doing it badly,
but if there is, then surely Manchester United plc has come pretty
close in their handling of Louis van Gaal’s dismissal earlier this
week. You could not have made it up as speculation mounted
that Jose Mourinho, the self-styled “special one” was set to be
named as van Gaal’s successor.

There has, to be very fair, been speculation around a Mourinho/
Manchester United link up – almost since the day in December 2015
when he and Chelsea parted company. Speculation bubbled and
boiled mainly in sync with United’s results; good and all was
quiet, but bad – well, all hell broke loose.

The one competition in which United was doing well this season
was the FA Cup; they won their semi-final tie against Everton,
setting up a final against Crystal Palace. On Saturday 21
May, the club won its record-equalling twelfth FA Cup competition
after extra time at Wembley. It was the club’s first post-Sir
Alex Ferguson trophy and came at the end of van Gaal’s second year
of a three-year contract. Those with long memories may
remember how the then plain Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United
career was only saved by an FA Cup win in 1990, but it now seems
that winning the FA Cup is no longer enough.

Hours before the final took place, the BBC broke the news that
van Gaal was going to be replaced as club manager by Jose
Mourinho. Van Gaal’s wife read the report on the BBC’s
website and is said to have given her husband the news not long
after the final whistle.

On reflection, it was probably impossible to keep news of
ongoing discussions between United and Mourinho secret and, as
BBC’s sports editor, Dan Roan, wrote,United hold the Dutchman in
high regard and had desperately tried to maintain secrecy during
their negotiations with Mourinho, hoping Van Gaal would lead his
team to a top-four spot in the Premier League.

Even after that target was missed, the club wanted him to be
able to enjoy his FA Cup win, never once briefing against their
coach or adding to the speculation. But it was always naive to
think that news of their plans would remain secret.

Once the news broke on Saturday, it was hard to fathom why they
waited to put Van Gaal out of his misery. Once again serious
questions will be asked about the way the Glazer regime runs the
club - and the way it communicates.

So maybe with the best of intentions, but it does not alter the
fact that it has all gone wrong again; less than two years ago, the
same thing happened to David Moyes, the previous United
manager. He read about his sacking in the newspapers.

What’s the lesson for negotiators? Well, if you want to
maintain your reputation, you have to try to keep negotiations
private and avoid news spilling out. According to press
reports, van Gaal may very well have been willing to walk without
compensation – he has done it before. Apparently though, he
has been so angered by the way that Manchester United handled the
whole situation that he employed the famous QC, Paul Gilroy to
represent him and his resultant pay-off has been reported at a cool
£4.5m; it has been an expensive loose tongue.

Competitive, adversarial stances breed competitive adversarial
stances and that can be costly. If you want to preserve your
reputation or indeed your relationship with valued business
partners, think about dealing with them in a more polite, private
and professional manner than that displayed by the power brokers of
Old Trafford.